Device for dispatching swabs, blood samples, and the like for bacteriological and diagnostic purposes



E. MlsLowlT-LR DEVICE FOR DISPATCHING SWABS,

March 24, 1936. 2,034,985

BLOOD SAMPLES AND THE LIKE FOR BAOTERIOLOOIOAL AND DIAGNOSTIC PURPOSES Filed Dec. 29, 1952 .722 ven for:

fr/7s! Madam/zel* /mr/QLKWM 24 zlarrz @ya Patented Mar. 24, 1936 n DEVICE Foa nIsPA'rcHmG sWABs, BLoo SAMPLES, AND ,'rnE LIKE Fon. BAcTE- iuoLoGIoAI. AND DIAGNOSTIC PURPOSES Ernst Mislowitzer, Berlin, Germany Application December 29, 1932, Serial No. 649,432 l In Germany January 2, 1932 comms. (ci 19t-sn In many cases of diagnosis, particularly in connection with suspected throat diseases it is usual or necessary to prepare the so-called specimens, swabs or wipes, which are to be examined 5 in a place especially designed and equipped for making bacteriognostic investigations and` ascertaining the diagnostic nature of the bacteria or other microbes contained in the specimen, swab or wipe under examination.

- l The bacteriological examination is usually performed in the manner that rst a culture of the microbes present in the specimen will be prepared by means of a nourishing medium and by incubation at a. temperature of about 38 C.; 15 subsequently the culture thus made will be examined microscopically. Incubation will take a comparatively long time, usually from 12 to 24 hours, as the case may be, and in. the majority of cases the iinal result of the examination can- 20 not be obtained except after the lapse of about 12 hours from the time of preparing the culture, particularly in the case of diphtheria;

^ For the purpose of mailing said specimen to a bacteriological institute for examination, sundry 25 means or vessels have been suggested heretofore, all of which substantially comprise a test-tube of about 15 cm. in length and 1,5 cm.y in width (diameter) and a stopper for keeping -the same closed, a piece of wire being connected with the 30 stopper and a ock of sterilized cotton-wool being attached to the free end of the wire to be lodged in the test-tube. The latter is usually housed in a tube made of sheet-metal adapted to be placed in a wooden case, which may be 35 sealed by a tight-fitting cover, so that the parcel will be mailable.

As regards the technique of preparing a swab the surfaces of the throat, the tonsils or any other part of the human body are gently touched or wiped with the said sterilized ock of cottonwool, so that a triing amount -of the serous or semi-liquid exudation which is supposed to contain pathological bacteria will be removed from 45. the mucous membrane, whereupon the stopper with the wire and the infectedviiock of cottonwool is placed in the previously sterilized testtube without any undue delay, the test-tube slipped in the said metallic tube, the latter put 50 in the wooden case and a ,cover'or a suitable stopper applied to the latter for the sealing purpose. Furthermore a durable envelope or covering also forms a part of the equipment, so that the physician in charge of the case will be in a 55 position to dispatch or mail the specimen to the place of examination without any undue delay.

In very rare cases only it will be possible in physicians practices to hand over the specimen immediately, to the place of examination, that is to say, without any considerable loss of time due to dispatch. Like difculties will obviously arise in case of examination of samples of blood, fces, sputum or urine. At any rate in boroughs, townships and other smaller inhabited places, where no facilities for bacteriologicalfexaminations are provided, it will be necessary to Send the specimen by post to the bacteriological examining station or institute of the next university or provincial capital. l5

It will be seen that the conveyance by post or the like necessarily must involve a relatively great loss of time and such loss of time will delay the diagnosis of the disease under treatment and sometimes lead to very serious consequences. Even in large cities or inhabited places, however.' Where bacterilological institutes exist, there will be no possibility of examining the specimen at once if the latter has been made at night-time, since said institutes are commonly shut up at night-time. On the other hand, particularly `in cases of diphtheria and typhoid fever, reduction of the period of time between the preparation of the specimen or the operation of taking a sample of blood from the patient and the coniirmation of the diagnosis by the bacteriological institute will be of utmost importance.

The chief object of my invention is to do away with the loss of time involved by the construction and arrangement of the devices or vessels hitherto devised and used for the reception and transportation of the pathological specimens herein referred to. In accomplishing this object I so construct and arrange the said vessel that the same will serve and act as an incubating device or in other words the pathological sample or specimen will be kept therein in contact with an appropriate nutritive medium and at a temperature suitable for the culture of. bacteria or other germs, so that on the arrival of the vessel at the place of examination, the culture will be fully developed for immediate examination and the diagnosis can be made without any delay within a few minutes. It will be seen that in this way all the time heretofore required for the growing I and development of the culture at the place of examination will b'e saved.

In particular, the transporting vessel according to the present invention is constructed and arranged in n. marmnr HunV inwinn- H-. MMA -a l.

transportation, the conditions required for the development of the culture will prevail and especially` the requisite temperature of about 37 C. will be'rnaintained therein.

In general the time required for sending a sample by post to a bacteriological institute will amount to from 6 to 24 hours or even more 1n special cases. Accordingly the provision or arrangement of the means to be employed for 'maintaining a suitable incubating temperature in the vessel is to be calculated to conform to the length of the transportation period which in itself is a known datum. Viewed from this aspect my invention pertains to a transport or forwarding vessel, which serves as a kind of incubator for bacteriological cultures at or during predetermined or fixed transportation periods varying in general between 6 and 24 hours or more, or which in other words acts to particularly maintain and secure within narrow limits the temperature required in the vessel for the development of the culture or the seasoning of a blood specimen previous to bacteriological examination, without running the risk of overheating.

Furthermore a vessel constructed and equipped in accordance with my invention will also be useful for transporting purposes in case of I norbic agents or bacteria which cannot stand a reduction of a certain temperature for any short duration without being impaired `thereby and becoming incapable of further development.

In some cases the present invention will afford the physician the possibility of making the microscopial examination himself without recurring to a bacteriological institute, as in general the invention-may be useful in many cases by dispensing with expensive incubators and substituting therefore the simple and emcient vessel according to my invention. l

I will now proceed to describe my invention more in detail in connection with the embodiments thereof illustrated somewhat diagrammatically on the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and showing for purposes of exemplication two preferred forms in which the invention may be embodied and,

' pending piece of wire c whereof the free end is equipped with a small flock of cotton-wool d the length of the wire being such that when the parts are assembled the cotton-wool will be lcated a little over and above the bottom of the test-tube so as to contact with a layer f of a suitable nourishing medium provided in the bottom end of the test-tube for the cultivation and growing of the bacteria present in the flock of cotton-wool orv in case of blood examination in the blood with which the nourishing medium is the stopper b or in case of blood examination f by means of an ordinary tight-fitting stopper,

and subsequently the test-,tube is in serted into a tute for bacteriological examination.

To this end the heat-producing and preserving jacket y is provided with double walls and charged with preferably liquid substances having such a melting point 'or point'of congeiation that the conditions hereinbefore referred to will be accomplished by the transition of said substances into the solid state preferably by way of crystallization and liberation of their congealing heat.

For example solid paraffin may be used for the purpose above indicated and the double-walled container or jacket g, when charged with a sufficient quantity of parafilne, may be dipped into a heating bath for the liquefaction purpose. I have found, however, that for the purpose in view lauric acid is especially useful particularly, if the melting point thereof has been reduced a little by the addition of any suitable homologous acid such as for example capric acid. In lieu of a mixture of the two organicv acids, however, impure or technical lauric acid may serve the purpose to satisfaction.

The container gis closed by means of a tightiltting cover or stopper h, and then placed in a. suitable wrapper or covering (not shown) made of any appropriate heat-insulating material such as felt or the like. In order to provide a further means for protection from overheating a heat insulating layer k of felt, rubber or the like may be inserted intermediate between the test-tube a and the container g while the free space between the latter and the mailable outer wrapper or covering may likewise be filled with a suitable insulating material.

In the modification illustrated'in Figure 2 the test-tube a1, the stopper b1 thereof and the nourishing medium f1 are similar to the like parts described with reference to Figure 1, and the testtube a1 is likewise accommodated in a heatsuppling case g. The free end of the Asuspended wire c1 however; is shaped to form a. small loop d1 for the reception of the sample or specimen to be examined as will be readily understood by persons versed in the art of bacteriological investigations, so that the ock of cotton-wool may be dispensed with. The case g1 with the testtube a1 therein is inserted or adapted to be inserted into'an evacuated hollow jacket i1 and the complete system is to be enclosed or accommodated in a mailable wrapper or covering (not y, shown) for the purpose of conveyance by post.

It goes without saying that the case g of g1, the jacket i1 and the mailable wrapper or covering may be sized and shaped for the accommodation of two or several test-tubes of the character herein described and shown in order to meet the requirement and for the eventuality of examining a plurality of specimens taken from one and the samepatient, so as to render the result of the examination more reliable.

As the flock of cotton-Wool d or the loop d1 of the Wire has been intentionally infected with pathological bacterial prior to its insertion in the test-tube the contact of the same with the nutritive medium f or f1 will give yrise to the development of a bacterial culture in the said medium. Upon arrival at the bacteriological institute, therefore the developed culture can be examined at once, so that the diagnods will be obtained without any undue delay.

While I have shown my invention embodied in certain devices or vessels it is not to be inferred that such vessels represent the only forms in which my invention may be embodied, but are illustrated and described only as illustrative oi forms now preferred by me, and to make clear the principles and methods of application of my invention. In particular I desire to have it understood that the invention embraces all modifications embodying the feature of using a smallsized device or v "ssel, such as for example a testtube as a means for dispatch by post or the like and at the same time as a means for developing therein a bacterial culture for diagnostic investigation. Thus for example the heat supplying case or container may be shaped and arranged to form an elongation of the test-tube, and a heat insulating jacket be employed for enclosing both the case or container and the test-tube.

What I claim is:

1. A package for insuring suitable conditions for the growth of bacteria during transportation comprising a receptacle having inner and outer walls spaced from one another to form a closed chamber containing lauric acid, a vessel supported within said receptacle containing bacteria and a medium to promote the growth of said bacteria, and heat insulating means enclosing said receptacle.

3. A package for insuring suitable conditionsv for the growth of bacteria during transportation comprising a receptacle having inner and outer walls spaced from one another to form a closed chamber containing a substance selected from the group consisting of lauric acid, and a mixture of lauric and capric acids, avessel supportedy within said receptacle containing bacteria and a medium to promote the growth of said bacteria, and heat insulating, means enclosing said receptacle. y

ERNST MISLOWITZER. 

